Important News (India & World):

1. Bharatiya Janata Party wins 282 seats as the NDA bags 334 in
General Elections 2014. The BJP led NDA is set to form the new Government at
the Centre with a massive win in the Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party has
secured an absolute majority on its own by winning 282 seats.

2. BJP wins 71 seats in UP. In Uttar Pradesh results of all 80
constituencies have been declared. Bharatiya Janata Party has 71 seats. Ruling
Samajwadi Party has won 5 seats and two‐seats each has
been won by the Congress and the BJP ally Apana Dal.

3. India will become the world’s third largest oil consumer by
2025 according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The US Energy Information Administration
(EIA) released its annual Energy Outlook on 7 May 2014. At present, India is
the fourth largest oil consumer in the world behind the US, China and
Japan.

4. Actor‐filmmaker Kamal Haasan led the Indian
delegation at the 67th Cannes International Film Festival inaugurated in
Cannes, France on 14 May 2014.

5. The United Nations and the International Olympic Committee
has signed a historic agreement to use the power of sports to promote peace and
economic development.

Note: IOC President: Thomas Bach

6. European Union bans Indian Alphonso mangoes, veggies from May
1. The 28‐member European Union has temporarily banned
the import of Alphonso mangoes, the king of fruits, and four vegetables from
India from May 1, sparking protests from the Indian community, lawmakers and
traders.

Note: The recent decision by the grouping's Standing Committee on
Plant Health came after 207 consignments of fruits and vegetables from India
imported into the EU in 2013 were found to be contaminated by pests such as
fruit flies and other quarantine pests.

7. Microsoft acquires Nokia's mobile phone
business for $7.5bn. The Finnish
company will now focus on networks, mapping services and technology development
and licences.

Note: Former Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop has become
executive vice president of the Microsoft devices group

8. The Supreme Court of India appointed former judge of the High
Court of Australia, Michael Hudson McHugh as the third arbitrator to resolve
the dispute between the Central government and Mukesh Ambani‐led
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on KG basin.

9. SC recognizes transgender as third
category of sex. In a
landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on Monday recognized transgenders or
eunuchs as third category of gender and directed Centre and states to grant
them all facilities including voters ID, passport and driving licence.

10. WHO certifies India as a polio‐free nation.

11. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) panel announced
that Cherrapunji in India regained the world record for highest rainfall in 48
hours with 2493 millimeters.

12. Russia suspended from G‐8 group: The G7 group of top economic powers have
kicked out Russia from the powerful G8 over its annexation of Crimea and threatened
to impose far-reaching sanctions if Moscow continued its incursion into
Ukraine.

ii.
The US and six other economic powers also scrapped the G8 summit
to be hosted by Russia in Sochi in June to build pressure on Russian President
Vladimir Putin against his military action in Ukraine.

About Crimea

i. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous parliamentary
republic within Ukraine and is governed by the Constitution of Crimea in
accordance with the laws of Ukraine.

ii. The capital is the city of Simferopol, located in
the center of the peninsula. Crimea's area is 26,200 square kilometers.

iii. The Crimean peninsula, the main flashpoint in Ukraine's
crisis, is a pro-Russia part of Ukraine, separated from the rest of the country
geographically, historically and politically. It also hosts Russia's Black Sea
Fleet. Ukraine has accused Russia of invading it.

13. IFFCO gets approval to set up $ 1.6 bn urea
plant in Canada.

14. Global pharma major Novartis acquire
GlaxoSmithKline plc's (GSK).

15. Andhra Pradesh has recorded highest growth in terms of milk
production at over 41 per cent and per‐capita milk
availability about 36 per cent, during the period 2006‐10.

16. A US jury ordered Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to pay $119.6
million to Apple Inc, a big loss for the iPhone maker in the latest round
of their globe‐spanning mobile patent litigation.

17. Cadbury India Limited announced to change its name to
Mondelez India Foods Limited. Cadbury India Limited is a subsidiary of Mondelez
International Inc.

18. Vietnam (Hanoi) decided not to host the 2019 Asian Games
for financial reasons, and was exploring procedures to withdraw from
staging the region's largest sporting event.

19. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (SPL) announced that it will
acquire 100 per cent of Ranbaxy Laboratories in a $ 4 billion allshare transaction.

20. Deadly ‘Heartbleed’ virus arrives in Indian
cyberspace.

21. Jammu and Kashmir became the first state in the country to
declare all election booths in the coming Lok Sabha polls as no smoking zones.

22. IRV 2020 programme has been launched by WHO‐India, with
an aim to protect and increase the population of the one‐horned
rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis).

23. Workdays for tribals under MNREGA raised from 100 to 150. Those tribals who
have received land rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 will be eligible
for additional 50 days of wage employment under the rural job scheme.

24. India nominated Rani‐ki‐Vav located in Patan, Gujarat and the Great Himalayan National
Park (GHNP) in Himachal Pradesh for UNESCO’s World Heritage Site Status for
2014.

25. Vandana Foundation launched AQUATM in Mumbai: The AQUATM is a water
vending machine from which water can be purchased. This water wending machine
will release 1 liter water at a price of 1 rupee.

26. Air India is all set to join the world's largest airline
grouping, Star Alliance, this July, making it the first airline from India to
be part of a global chain of carriers.

27. Gujarat state has been ranked number one in a list of
India's 20 largest states in terms of “economic freedom”.

28. Google partners with Ray‐ban for
Google Glass.

29. India is Dubai’s largest non oil trading partner in 2013‐14

30. In the biggest‐ever deal
signed at the India Aviation Show, SpiceJet has inked an agreement with Boeing
for purchase of 42 737 MAX 8 aircraft costing Rs. 26,000 crore ($ 4.4 billion).

31. Kellogg’s ropes in Deepika Padukone as brand ambassador for
Special K

32. Mauritius President Rajkeswar Puryaag is the chief guest at Global Ayurveda Fest in Kerala

33. National Waqf Development Corp.
Limited is a new Central
Public Sector Enterprise in New Delhi.

Note: It will be remain under the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
National Waqf Development Corporation (NAWADCO) has been established with an
authorized share capital of Rs.500 Crore.

ii. The corporation has been establishment as a follow‐up
of the recommendation of Sachar Committee.

34. Social media giant Facebook will acquire mobile messaging
company WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars in a cash and stock deal, the largest
acquisition by the Mark Zuckerberg‐led firm. Under
the agreement, WhatsApp co‐founder
and CEO Jan Koum will join
Facebook Board of Directors.

Note: WhatsApp, headquarters is in California's Mountain
View.

35. Odia declared as classical language. So far,
Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have been declared as classical languages.

37. Cheteshwar Pujara, the middle order batsman of Indian
cricket team appointed as the brand ambassador of the Gujarat State Election
Commission.

38. Country’s first Minority Cyber Village opened in Chandoli
in Alwar district of Rajasthan.

39. Sikkim achieves over 100 percent sanitation. Sikkim has become
the only state in the country to achieve more than 100 percent sanitation in
rural and urban households, schools, sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres.

40. India’s first monorail service launched in Mumbai.
The first phase covers 8.9 km long Wadala‐Chembur
section.

41. Belgium became second country to allow Mercy Killing for
Children. Parliament of Belgium on 14 February 2014 legalised death to
terminally ill children of any age.

Note: Other European countries that
allows active euthanasia are: 1. Luxembourg, which permits active
euthanasia for over 18 years in age. 2. Switzerland lets doctors to help
adult patients to commit suicide

42. India is the world’s largest arms importer: SIPRI. The new
data has ranked China and Pakistan second and third respectively as the largest
arms importer. The report published by as Swedish Think Tank, Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has claimed that India continues
to be the largest buyer of arms in the world.

44. Facebook — with more than 1.2 billion users worldwide — is
celebrating its 10th birthday on 3rd Feb 2014.

45. Six Public Sector Units (PSUs) have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to set up the World’s largest 4000 MW ultra solar power
project in Rajasthan. The project will be the largest single location solar
plant spread across 19000 acres at Sambhar in Rajasthan.

46. The Ministry of Railways and the Government of Karnataka
signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the setting up of a rail coach
factory at Kolar in Karnataka.

48. Kerala wins UN award: Kerala Tourism has been conferred the United Nations
Award for creating innovative initiatives for sustainable tourism, the
first time India has ever won the recognition.

49. Odisha's Chilika lagoon, hotspot for biodiversity, has been named
'destination flyways' by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
following its inclusion in a list of eight such sites worldwide.

Note: Chilika is the only site to be selected from Asia by the
UNWTO.

50. Japanese PM (Shinzo Abe) is the Chief Guest at India’s 65th
Republic Day celebrations on 26th January 2014.

51. The Jain community was accorded minority status by the
central government, which will enable them to avail of benefits in government
schemes and programmes. The Jains became the sixth community to have minority status
after Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.

52. Amul launches India’s first ‘milk ATM’ in Gujarat.

53. Sourav Ganguly conferred Doctor of Letters degree by the
prestigious Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur, for his
great contribution to Indian cricket.

54. Delhi became first state to withdraw FDI in Multibrand
Retail.

55. India has been ranked 98th in the Forbes list of world's
best countries for doing business that has cited poverty, corruption and discrimination
against girls among the challenges facing the country. Ireland topped the list.

56. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has ranked India as
No 3 among the list of top 10 countries for LEED outside of the United States.

57. Prince Harry has become the first British royal to reach
the South Pole after a three‐week charity trek with injured military veterans
from Britain, the U.S., Canada and Australia.

58. Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has been named the regional brand
ambassador by the UNICEF to promote its Total Sanitation Campaign in India,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

59. The Petroleum Conservation Research Association under the
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has selected Andhra Pradesh for
the award of best performing State amongst the big states for the oil and gas
conservation programmes.

60. Gorakhpur railway station entered Limca Book of Records as world’s
longest platform

Note: Before the platform number one of Gorakhpur, the platform
of Kharagpur railway station of West Bengal had the distinction of being
world’s largest platform with length of 1072.5 meters.

61. India ranks 140 in the list of 180 countries in the World
Press Freedom Index 2014, whereas China and Pakistan were placed at 175th and
158th position respectively.

62. India was ranked 94th out of 177 countries on Global
Corruption Perception Index 2013, which was released by Transparency International.
Denmark and New Zealand tied for first place.

63. India has been ranked 23rd out of 25 countries in
nuclear material security index. China has been ranked at 20th spot, while Pakistan
stands at 22nd place.

64. India ranked 155th in Global Environment
Performance Index

65. India ranks at the bottom of the list of 25 countries
in terms of its intellectual property (IP) environment. US ranked on the
top followed by UK and France.

66. Cumbria University of UK became the first public university
to accept fees in digital currency, Bitcoin. A system for processing the
payments is already operational.

67. Dhoom 3’ has become Bollywood’s highest revenue
grosser of all times in just a fortnight after its pan‐India
release.

68. Chile took its seat at the United Nations Security
Council(UNSC) as a non‐permanent member of the international body
till Dec 31, 2015.

69. Nepal and India have agreed in principle to allow
circulation of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denomination Indian bank notes within Nepalese
territory, ending a ban in place for over a decade.

Note: The decision to scrap the 2010 deal was taken nearly a year
after reports surfaced that two top officials of the company had allegedly paid
bribes to bag the contract. Former IAF chief S P Tyagi is one of the accused in
the case, which is being probed by CBI.

71. Europe launched Gaia satellite, one of the most
ambitious space missions in history.

72. Alstom bagged 125 million euro contract from BHEL for
Neyveli New Thermal Power Project. The contract is to supply components and
services for the 1000 MW Neyveli New Thermal Power Project (NNTPP) of Neyveli
Lignite Corporation located in Tamil Nadu.

Note: Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation,
power transmission and rail infrastructure. It has set a benchmark for innovative
and environmentally friendly technologies.

ii. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity
automated metro in the world.

73. China built a new research station in Antarctica called Taishan.
It was China’s fourth research station in the southern pole.

Note: Antarctica is the fifth‐largest
continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America.

74. China's first lunar rover named Jade Rabbit landed on
Moon. The lunar rover has been named Jade Rabbit (called Yutu in Chinese).

Note: In past three decades, China is the first country to do so.
Earlier, Luna 24 Probe of Soviet Union was the last space mission to land on
moon in August 1976

75. Chile is the world’s top copper exporter, and its fast‐growing
economy, low unemployment and stable democracy are the envy of Latin America.